The Guinness Book of World Records doesn’t track the size of communications networks, but if it did, “the GIG” would be a front runner. The GIG (short for Global Information Grid) is the digital communications infrastructure for all U.S. defense operations. Its backbone, the DISN managed by the Defense Information Systems Agency, (DISA) is the enterprise network that provides data, video and voice services for both secure and unsecured defense operations around the globe.

Since 1999, DISA has used NeuralStar from Kratos Networks as the primary software component to administer the DISN as part of its Integrated Network Management System (INMS). The INMS provides visualization, situational awareness and performance management across the GIG, including multiple network control centers. Pinpointing and resolving individual problems and potential issues in a network of this size and complexity is vital to operations and can amount to the digital equivalent of finding a needle in a haystack. The availability of even the most robust global network can sometimes depend upon the functioning of a single device in the most remote location.

As part of the INMS, DISA uses NeuralStar to manage at both the local and global levels: operationally within the regional operations centers and as a “manager of managers” to roll up localized data for reliable situational awareness. As DISA’s dynamic network needs have evolved, Kratos Networks has worked in partnership to adapt NeuralStar to meet those needs.

NeuralStar in the DISN Delivers for Government Agencies by:
• Displaying the alarm status of the specific circuits used by an agency for connectivity.
• Notifying an agency if a trouble ticket has been created and its status, if availability impairs service.

At DISA, NeuralStar Delivers:
• Real-time availability management across thousands of devices, including applications as diverse as satellite, cryptography and security devices.
• Granular control over any type of event definition, with the ability to collect, normalize and integrate data from any device, application or service.
• The ability to cut through irrelevant information to focus on maintaining essential, circuit-based connectivity that can mean the difference between mission success or failure.
• Integrated and consolidated operational views within regional and global network operations centers, allowing comparisons of multiple business views of network information.
• Customized dashboards that include 3D graphs, charts, maps, alert grids and more to provide the right level of integrated data to the right managers.
• Integrated problem management with Remedy, as well as integration with other management tools.

DISA uses NeuralStar because it is one of the few solutions that can set the management standards behind netcentric warfare and provide a unified management platform to manage the depth and breadth of the DISN and its related services.